Kit
Jernigan despairs of ever fitting in with her new tight-knit K9
unit—they've been through too much to welcome a stranger. So when a
killer strikes, it’s a fight to convince her fellow officers to
trust her long enough to catch the woman she know is responsible.

She
can’t do it on her own. What she needs most is a partner: local
fire spotter Wesley March.

Wes
knows in his heart that Kit is right, and he's willing to leave his
lonely tower to help her prove it. But the more time they spend
together, the hotter the fire smolders…and the more danger they're
in. A member of the K9 unit's inner circle is determined to have her
revenge—no matter who gets burned in the process.

A
graduate of the Police Academy, Katie is a self-proclaimed forensics
nerd. A fan of anything that makes her feel like a bad-ass, she has
trained in Krav Maga, boxing, and gymnastics, has lived in an
off-grid, solar- and wind-powered house in the Rocky Mountains, rides
horses, trains her three dogs, and travels to warm places to scuba
dive. She has received 4 Amazon Best Books of the Month and an Amazon
Best Book of the Year. Run
to Ground,
the first book in her Rocky Mountain K9 Unit series, is a 2017 RT
Book Reviews Reviewers’
Choice Award nominee.

Her
hair was just as beautiful down as he’d imagined it would be. Wes
shifted his weight and fought the urge to fidget with the salt and
pepper shakers. He didn’t know what to do with the excess energy
that was coursing through him. He’d asked her on a date, and she’d
agreed. Even though hours had passed and the date had begun, he still
marveled at it. If it hadn’t been horribly early, he would’ve
called Leila to let her know it had worked. His bravery had been
rewarded.

Seeing
her was worth enduring the heavy weight of the other diners’ stares
and the buzz of their whispers. He normally did his best to avoid all
the townspeople, but he’d ignore their avid interest for Kit’s
sake. It was difficult, though. Even the sleepy waitress gave him a
curious, wide-eyed look when she stopped at their table to fill their
coffee cups and chat lightly with Kit. After she walked away, Kit
said quietly, “That’s Jules. She and Theo are together.”

He
nodded. “You’re good with people.” She reminded him of Leila
that way. Both women always seemed to say the right thing, even when
they didn’t know someone. “That must be useful when you’re
working.”

She
studied him with a slight smile that was kind, rather than mocking.
“Thank you. I’m not always the most tactful, so I sometimes get
myself into trouble that way. I do best with kids.”

“I
can see why. You’re both very honest.” His interactions with
children had been minimal as an adult, but he remembered the
sometimes brutal honesty of his peers from when he was a kid.

She
laughed a little, and the sound warmed his insides. “‘Honest’
is the nice way of saying that we don’t think before we speak
sometimes.”

“That
can be good, though.” He couldn’t look away from her. From the
sheen of her black satin hair to the way her green sweater followed
her slight curves, she was riveting. He felt like he could stare at
her for days and not get bored. “My sister, Leila, always tells me
the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. That’s so much easier
than trying to figure out how people really feel when their words
don’t match their thoughts.”

“If
everyone were that honest, my job would be a lot easier.”

“That’s
true.” He watched as she picked up her coffee mug with both hands
and took a sip. Her fingers were small and slender, with unpolished,
short nails, and he marveled that she could use them to take down
people twice her size. The mention of her job reminded him of
something. “One of my neighbors stopped by the tower.”

“Rufus?”
she asked, setting down her coffee. He saw a muscle twitch in her
cheek and felt a remembered jolt of fear at the thought of how close
she’d been to losing her life.

“No.
Murphy.” She seemed to relax a little as she watched him, waiting
patiently for him to continue talking. He loved how she wasn’t in a
rush. Her manner calmed him and made conversation, which was usually
a minefield of missed cues and uncertainty, so much easier. “He
spends a lot of time in the woods south of town. Trapping, mostly.”

Wes
paused, wondering if she would question him about Murphy’s
activities. He’d never actually caught his neighbor in the act, but
Wes had found a few illegal leg-hold traps that he was pretty sure
belonged to Murphy. He was still trying to figure out the best plan
to convince Murphy to stop, since the traps were dangerous, as well
as cruel. Kit didn’t say anything, just kept her gaze on him,
giving him her full attention.

“My
neighbors don’t trust law enforcement…or any government agency,
really. In the last year, they’ve started to come to me with a few
things. They know I work for the forest service, so I believe they
consider me an intermediary, someone halfway between them and the
government, if that makes sense?”

“It
does.” Her coffee forgotten, she stayed completely locked on him,
and he felt the rush of that focused interest. “You’re their
backwoods ambassador.”

His
laugh was a surprise, even to him, more pleased than amused. It was
such a pleasure to be understood. “Yes. Exactly. I pass on the
information they give me to the right agency, and they can hold on to
their anonymity.”

“Win-win.”
Pushing her coffee mug aside, she laid her forearms on the table so
she could lean even closer to him. “What did Murphy tell you?”

“Are
you still working on the case of the house that burned down last
Monday?” Even if she wasn’t, he still planned to tell her the
information he’d gotten from Murphy. If he was the backwoods
ambassador, then she was the Wes ambassador. He was acquainted with
the other cops, and he didn’t have any problem with them since the
crooked lieutenant had been arrested a few weeks ago, but he already
trusted Kit. She might have been new to the area, but he had a
gut-deep feeling that she wouldn’t betray him.

“Yes.”

Wes
lowered his voice, even though the closest other diners were several
tables away. “Murphy was checking his traps and saw someone leave
that house minutes before it went up in flames.”

“How
close was he?” Kit had softened her voice to match his.

“Approximately
fifteen feet from the edge of the house’s backyard.”

“Could
he describe the person? Does he know them?” Although the words were
quiet, there was an urgency to them that made his blood run faster.
It wasn’t a bad feeling. Ever since he’d met Kit, he’d felt so
much more alive.